Low-income working women and female household heads are among the most vulnerable groups in greater Accra. They are generally able to meet caloric consumption needs, but are very vulnerable to income or price shocks, and sacrifice investment in health and education in order to meet consumption needs. The best options for reducing women's vulnerability is to increase their income earning potential by improving access to credit and skills training, and by improving the regulatory environment, says this paper from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

Standard methods of poverty measurement assume that an individual is poor if he or she lives in a family whose income or consumption lies below an appropriate poverty line. Such methods can provide only limited insight into male and female poverty separately. It is also possible to link family expenditure patterns to the gender composition of the household, which this paper, produced by the World Bank Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, illustrates using data from India and South Africa.

Twelve years after Burkina Faso launched a campaign that outlawed female genital mutilation (FGM) in 1996 and imposed heavy penalties on circumcisers, the number of women undergoing the harmful practise is declining, officials said.

Hundreds of women have gathered in a garden in Dol Dol, a remote town in Kenya's windswept highlands. The garden is full of colour, because these are Masai women, most of whom wear scarlet and white necklaces like beaded ruffs and wrapped skirts in sun-bright colours. One of their chiefs, a tall man wearing a faded baseball cap, is addressing the crowd. "Do you want to go on with your action against the British army?" he asks in their language. A ripple of agreement passes through the women. This action is based on the staggering claim that, over the last 20 years, British soldiers stationed in Kenya on training exercises have been carrying out rapes against local women, and that no soldier has ever been investigated or punished for those rapes.

Women make up an average of only 17 percent of media sources in Southern Africa although they make up 52 percent of the population, a report by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) said. The Gender and Media Baseline Study, a joint initiative of MISA and Gender Links, a southern African NGO, found that these figures reached 26 percent in Angola, and a low 11 percent in Malawi, irrespective of whether they were in the public or private media.

Women's organisations in Uganda have voiced mixed reactions to Vice President's Specioza Wandira Kazibwe decision to resign from her post. Kazibwe, a medical doctor by profession, reportedly wrote to President Yoweri Museveni asking to be relieved of her position in order to pursue a PhD at the Harvard School of Medicine in the US. A presidential spokesperson confirmed Kazibwe's resignation, but told IRIN that the president had not yet appointed a replacement. Until her resignation, Kazibwe was the only female vice president in Africa. She was appointed after Museveni came to power in 1986. However some Ugandan women argue that although her appointment as vice president raised the profile of women in politics, she failed to use her position to positively influence key policies in favour of women.

Goodwill ambassador Miriam Makeba launched a women's skills exchange project between South African and West African women on Thursday. Makeba said the project was aimed at allowing women from different backgrounds to share their work experiences and challenges facing them in their respective countries.

There has been progress in achieving gender equality and women's empowerment around the world - but the pace is too slow in many regions. Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest levels of achievement, primarily because of a devastating combination of national poverty, conflict and the effects of HIV/AIDS. These are among the findings of Progress of the World's Women 2002, the groundbreaking report on women's empowerment produced by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

Nigeria has passed a policy on female genital mutilation 10 years after it was drafted, Panafrican News Agency reported Saturday. At a conference in Abuja, the Ministry of Health's director of community development, Morrison Amaeshi, said a recent survey had shown that four types of FGM were still practiced in the country. Amaeshi, who blamed tradition and cultural beliefs for "the slow progress towards its elimination," added that FGM "is not required by any religious injunction" and "causes great pains and damage." Amaeshi said general ignorance and substandard professional knowledge of the practice worsened the situation.

The Tanzania government has said recently that it is committed to institutionalizing gender within its structures. According to the Minister, the change of focus made by the Ministry of Community, Gender and Children Development from "Women" to "Gender," the creation of the National Gender and Development Policy and the adoption of the Gender Budgeting Initiative by six government sectors is a clear indication of the government's commitment to institutionalize gender within all its spheres.

The standards of protection for women affected by conflict and the international response to their situations are "glaring in their inadequacy", says a report commissioned by the UN Development Fund For Women. The report, "Women, War and Peace: The Independent Experts' Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women's Role in Peace-building", found that while women are often specifically targeted during conflict, they do not receive what they need in emergencies.

The government of the Central African Republic (CAR) has granted women's organisations four more seats in the ruling National Transitional Council, government-run Radio Centrafrique reported.

An international truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) on violence against women in armed conflict "as a step towards ending impunity" is one of the key recommendations in a United Nations report launched last Friday. The Report of the UN Development Fund for Women (Unifem) is entitled "The Independent Expert's Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women's Role in Peace-building -- Women, War and Peace".

Women in Zambia's North-Western province are being helped with the knowledge and services to prevent HIV/AIDS through a project aimed at empowering the hardest hit population group. Last month, the NGO Coordination Committee (NGOCC) - an umbrella body of women's organisations in the region - and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), gathered in Solwezi to open 'Bumi House'. This centre will become the base for the programme.

Human Rights and gay activists have accused some southern African leaders of singling out gays and lesbians as "scapegoats" for their countries' problems. Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) on Wednesday released a 298-page report documenting harassment and violence against sexual minorities in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

When Tamara Zulu's husband died, leaving her as the sole breadwinner, she turned to her skills as a tailor to support her five children. Then came Ms. Zulu's in-laws. A month after the funeral, relying on tribal traditions that assign inheritance rights to relatives of deceased men, the out-of-towners swooped in and took everything, including Zulu's only sewing machine. The suddenly destitute widow scrambled to rent tailoring equipment and feed her family.

Their place is usually in the classrooms teaching the students and propounding theories. But early last week, lecturers mostly from the Political Science Department of the University of Ibadan (UI), were in Seminar Room 1, Conference Hall of the university, for a round table discussion on what should be added or expunged from the 1999 constitution to make it more acceptable to all genders.

A high school guidance counsellor’s office in Kampala, Uganda, was big enough for Deborah Serwadda to offer career advice and aptitude tests, but it was far too small to cope with the physically abused kids, runaways and their disintegrating families that routinely waited outside her door. A privileged upbringing as the eldest of seven children of an Anglican priest had prepared Serwadda to be an educator, and she had all the right credentials. "It wasn't enough," she says. "These kids were so badly off." She volunteered at Hope After Rape, a non-governmental organisation set up by a woman psychiatrist to counsel the rape victims who in Uganda were traditionally shunned, as though the rapes were somehow their fault.

Women's groups in Swaziland are taking a more active role in shaping gender policy, ahead of the release of the first draft of the country's new constitution by King Mswati III. Property ownership, currently illegal for Swazi women, is one important area of concern.

The strong and divergent views Mozambicans have about a range of practices like polygamy, early marriage for girls and the male's position as the automatic head of the household, surfaced to public attention when a draft Family Law was introduced into parliament at the end of last month. The discussions in parliament over the draft followed countrywide debates, seminars and meetings held from as far back as 1982 with people from all walks of life, including women's and religious groups.